Political forces at a glance

Present government: The president, Danilo Medina of the centrist Partido de la Liberación Dominicana (PLD), will start a new four-year term in August 2016, after winning re-election in May elections. The PLD will also retain control of both houses of Congress, with 28 seats out of 32 in the Senate (the upper house) and 127 of 190 seats in the Chamber of Deputies (the lower house). The opposition centre-left Partido Revolucionario Moderno (PRM) won two Senate seats, while the Partido Reformista Social Cristiano (PRSC)—a minor party allied with the PRM—secured one, as did the small Bloque Institucional Socialdemócrata (BIS). In the lower house, the PRM took 46 seats and the PRSC 14, while smaller parties won the remainder.